Pro-life vid weekend bonus: Lucy tells Ricky she’s pregnant, 60 yrs ago today
by Jill
Sixty years ago today the I Love Lucy episode entitled, “Lucy is Enceinte” aired. Quoting Wikipedia:
Later, during the second season, Lucy was pregnant again with second child Desi Arnaz, Jr., and this time the pregnancy was incorporated into the series’ storyline. Despite popular belief, Lucy’s pregnancy was not television’s first on-screen pregnancy. That distinction belongs to Mary Kay on the late 1940s sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny.
CBS would not allow I Love Lucy to use the word “pregnant”, so “expecting” was used instead. The episode “Lucy Is Enceinte” first aired on December 8, 1952 (“enceinte” being French for “expecting” or “pregnant”)….
“Lucy Goes to the Hospital” was watched by more people than any other television program up to that time, with 71.7% of all American television sets tuned in, topping the 67.7 rating for Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration coverage the following morning.
Here’s the clip of the announcement. The little tag at the end is sweet…
[youtube]http://youtu.be/oNZxb0wXZg4[/youtube]
More from Time:
It’s a testament to Lucille Ball’s clout that she managed to convince CBS executives – along with corporate sponsor Phillip Morris – to write her real-life pregnancy into the show’s plot in 1952, especially considering the industry’s priggish use of twin beds for married couples. The network’s bigwigs were so nervous about the idea that members of the clergy were brought in to oversee the writing of the seven episodes that mentioned Ball’s pregnancy, while the word “pregnancy” itself was banned from the script in favor of “expecting.”
Ball did such a thorough job of intertwining reality and the show that she even scheduled the caesarean delivery to correspond with the airing of the episode in which her on-air persona gives birth; it remains one of the most viewed telecasts in history.
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Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Aw that’s cute. I’ve never watched I Love Lucy, I guess it was a sweet show.
Hi Jack,
I watched the original episodes, but even I’m not old enough to remember this particular episode.
It was so sad, but apparently this was a very troubled marriage, Desi was a notorious womanizer and boozer. Lucy said about “I Love Lucy” that at least one day a week for a half hour, she could have a happy marriage. Even long after they divorced it was apparent they never loved anyone else but each other.
If you ever get a chance to watch the reruns, try to. I think you would enjoy them. I know I still do.
Yeah, I had read that about Desi Arnaz, I think it’s sad. I guess they did a good job keeping it from the cameras though, it seems like they were television’s happy couple while the show was on.
Wikipedia says that Arnaz was born and was a kid in the same town my mother was born in, Santiago de Cuba. That’s interesting. His family emigrated way before mine did though.
I very much enjoy sitcoms from that time period. One of my favorites is “Leave It To Beaver.” My all-time favorite TV show of all time is “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Much of social conservatism, IMO, is a kind of nostalgia for the period of the late-1940s through early 1960s. However, this was NOT the staid and boring time it is often depicted as being. It has that reputation only because the upheavals of the late 1960s-early 1970s followed it.
Comedy actually can BENEFIT from censorship. Being deprived of the easy laughs from sex and body functions requires comedy that is especially creative.
The use of the word “pregnancy” was only blunt but back then blunt was shocking. There are some words and phrases I wish we would forgoe for their former counterparts, like the “p” word for “go to the bathroom”
Some substitions are obscuring rather than blunt. Of course the major one that we deal with is “fetus” for “baby”.
Hi Denise,
Certainly times were not idyllic in the 50s and 60s, but they had their good points.
I still remember my mom telling me to come home when the street lights come one, and I was about 7y/o. Parents thought nothing of children walking to school by themselves. I don’t know why there seemed to be less crime and concern, or maybe people just didn’t hear about it.
“My all-time favorite TV show of all time”
Taken a trip to the Redundant Department of Redundancy, lately? :)
JDC says:
December 8, 2012 at 4:47 pm
“My all-time favorite TV show of all time”
Taken a trip to the Redundant Department of Redundancy, lately?
(Denise) Ooops!
Not especially appreciative of the word “expecting.” I mean, are we expecting a baby to be delivered by a stork? Or do we have a real baby already in there? Pregnant sounds cold and medical to me, but I suppose it shouldn’t necessarily have that sense. I like “baby in the belly”. Started with talking to my kids about their siblings, but I’m keeping it for daily use.
My mom, who had us in the mid-late 70s, says that people were awkward about pregnant women, and that it wasn’t uncommon for even married women to conceal their pregnant bellies. I still can’t imagine if this was a weird modesty thing or about looking skinny or what. Just a couple of years after Roe v Wade, maybe no one knew what to say about a woman’s cute little “choice” growing inside her.
Well, it could have been her all-time favorite at one time. :)
LifeJoy says:
December 8, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Not especially appreciative of the word “expecting.” I mean, are we expecting a baby to be delivered by a stork? Or do we have a real baby already in there? Pregnant sounds cold and medical to me, but I suppose it shouldn’t necessarily have that sense. I like “baby in the belly”. Started with talking to my kids about their siblings, but I’m keeping it for daily use.
My mom, who had us in the mid-late 70s, says that people were awkward about pregnant women, and that it wasn’t uncommon for even married women to conceal their pregnant bellies. I still can’t imagine if this was a weird modesty thing or about looking skinny or what. Just a couple of years after Roe v Wade, maybe no one knew what to say about a woman’s cute little “choice” growing inside her.
(Denise) Many people automatically shout, “Congratulations!” to a pregnant woman.
Should we instead ignore the pregnancy? After all, the woman might have been impregnated through rape or planning to place for adoption. Do they want to hear “Congratulations!” about their pregnancies?
You mean Ricky and Lucy did…….that??
“(Denise) Many people automatically shout, “Congratulations!” to a pregnant woman.
Should we instead ignore the pregnancy? After all, the woman might have been impregnated through rape or planning to place for adoption. Do they want to hear “Congratulations!” about their pregnancies?”
The source of that congratulatory approach is valuing life and considering motherhood something to be joyfully sought after! Giant, (problematically) problematic assumptions for some situations I know. Maybe we should just say congratulations to the baby inside! (Though that may sadly be more appropriate when they make it out alive).
I’ve told this story before so if you’ve heard it just skip this post.
My grandmother lived around the turn of the century in an era when “proper” women did not “flaunt” their pregnancies. So every effort was made to put on the pretense of “hiding” it, which of course was useless after a point, but appearances do matter.
Anyway, my grandmother would have not of that. The weather was hot, she was as big as a house, and she wasn’t about to wear a corset or coat to hide what was obvious to anyone with eyes and brain function. She walked into a store and in front of the mortified clerk, plopped her abdoment on the counter, counted out her change, and then said to the clerk ”what the hell are you looking at?” Oh, and proper ladies didn’t swear either.
Obviously my grandmother was born just a tad few years before her time.
Mary, wish I could have met your grandmother!
I believe Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who strong opposed abortion, had her husband run up an American flag above the house whenever she went into labor.
“Not especially appreciative of the word “expecting.” I mean, are we expecting a baby to be delivered by a stork? Or do we have a real baby already in there? Pregnant sounds cold and medical to me, but I suppose it shouldn’t necessarily have that sense. I like “baby in the belly”. Started with talking to my kids about their siblings, but I’m keeping it for daily use.”
Lifejoy,
I always thought of “expecting” as “expecting a safe (healthy) delivery”. See the title of my latest “Pro-life video of the day” post: “Everyday expectation”. :)
But “baby in the belly”? I guess I prefer that to “bun in the oven”. ;)
( Any fellow grammar cops out there? I can never remember which you end with: the punctuation mark or the “close quote”. Darn! ;) )
( Any fellow grammar cops out there? I can never remember which you end with: the punctuation mark or the “close quote”. Darn! )
Do you notice this doesn’t come naturally to me either? I did it each way on my post above, so I am probably confusing you. It goes inside, before the close quote … unless there’s a parenthetical citation, in which case it goes at the very end … and … blah, blah, blah … I taught writing, but I am not into semi- arbitrary punctuation rules. =)
No, I didn’t notice! Only my own confusion. I was too lazy to research it. Thanks! I try to ignore most mistakes, though I cringe when February comes around and it seems like no one can pronounce it! ;)
I confess I never knew about that silent “r” at all, until I learned how to spell it. Ha ha. =). I’m actually a linguist, so I appreciate hearing about everyone’s grammatical grievances.
It must be my Scandinavian heritage paying tribute to Freya. Not very Christian of me!
Punctuation and close quotes is one of the totally nonsensical things that really drives me crazy. One way is illogical, the other way is ugly. Can’t win.
Lucy sparked a whole new fashion industry that catered to pregnant women. My mom and her friends proudly sported their polka dot maternity tops with big white ‘peter pan’ collars. Gosh, it makes me homesick for those times.
My point actually was that the “r” isn’t supposed to be silent, but it seems to be evolving/devolving that way. In French it’s “Fevrier” still holding on to the “r’ from the old Norse goddess.
Back to the post, I remember they could show a couple lying atop a single bed as long as someone’s foot was on the floor! :)
“My point actually was that the “r” isn’t supposed to be silent, but it seems to be evolving/devolving that way.”
Yeah, I got ya, Hans. I was teasing. =) Though I was serious that I learned the r-less pronunciation. It’s a common phonological process to consolidate “r”s. Some have done it in “library,” but it is less natural in the stressed syllable, so it is more of a dialect thing. Those blasted “r”s – always disappearing and reappearing.
“In French it’s “Fevrier” still holding on to the “r’ from the old Norse goddess.”
Aha. I did not know. I was born in Febuary ;) so now I have some good trivia. Interesting too since the French hardly pronounce anything. Ha.
“Punctuation and close quotes is one of the totally nonsensical things that really drives me crazy. One way is illogical, the other way is ugly. Can’t win.”
Exactly, Alexandra. It figures that appearances win out over logic. Happens all too often.
There was an emphasis on domesticity in programs from that era that was positive. One of my favorite episodes was the debut episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” called “The New Housekeeper.” A housekeeper named Rose had been keeping the house for widower Andy and little Opie. Aunt Bee was coming in to replace her but Opie was resistant. “There’s no one else like Rose,” he complained. Sheriff Taylor answered, “There’s no one else like Aunt Bee either.” Aunt Bee overhears little Opie saying his prayers. He says, “Oh, I forgot someone.” She brightens up. But that someone turns out to be Rose.
Aunt Bee thinks she might as well leave. To her surprise, Opie doesn’t want her to and insists she stay.
In later years, Aunt Bee became a kind of “my way or the highway” character on occasion. However, in the early years, she seemed to personify the importance of keeping a clean house and serving tasty meals. To a large extent, woman’s place is in the home — and so is everyone else’s. Public life is in some ways led FOR private life. The home is — or should be — a kind of safe harbor. Aunt Bee seemed to create a safe harbor for Andy and Opie. That is the secret of that character’s enduring popularity.
I recently saw a tv-infomertal re. outtakes from episodes of the ‘Carole Burnette Show’. The offer and the sentiments were fantastic, so I wondered ‘Why?’. Did not at all like my answers. Seems to me, in our frenzy to defend ourselves from the deluge of negativity, we sll (PL too) may have renounced much of our personal (adult) innocence. Can we find joy (non-combative) to simply be in the presence of another? Is our sense-of-humor on hiatus? Is one of the biggest negative impacts of our attempting to manipulate human life (abortion) is our loss of humor? Has It like the butterflies, frogs, and toads lost to memory?
One reason “I Love Lucy” may be popular with social conservatives is that, like other programs of the period and the culture generally, the accepted division of gender roles was that wives were home managers and husbands were breadwinners. The dangers of role reversal were humorously displayed when Lucy and Ethel tried to earn money by working in that chocolate factory and Fred and Ricky tried to show how easy housework was and ended up with the rice runneth over.